Fabio
72 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
72 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: "Bill"
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title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 10, 13, 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ENFORCEMENT OF FAMILY COURT CUSTODY ORDERS."
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description: "In cases where the Family Court finds that there are sufficient grounds to order the removal of a child from their home and the Family Court orders custody of the child to the Division of Family Service (DFS), DFS often partners with law enforcement to enforce the order. There have been rare cases where a parent or legal guardian refuses to respond to DFS and law enforcement’s attempts to enforce the order to take custody of the child, resulting in uncertainty and a heightened concern for the child’s safety. Currently, it is unclear under the Delaware Code whether law enforcement is authorized to enter private property to enforce a Family Court custody order, even after all other avenues and strategies have been exhausted by DFS and law enforcement."
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jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
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legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
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session: "151"
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identifier: "HB 417"
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citation: "Delaware HB 417 (151)"
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classification: ["bill"]
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subjects: []
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status: "enacted"
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primary_sponsors: ["Krista Griffith", "Kyle Evans Gay"]
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version_count: 1
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action_count: 7
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vote_count: 2
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first_action: "2022-05-10"
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last_action: "2022-10-14"
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source: "openstates"
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source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2e20d00b-4828-4192-9a07-c59d97bf5621"
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source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=109486"
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source_hash: "34e64b87b1e5951ea07701f0a7c484a44f206bb0ae08de35874dc0c657cab066"
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vintage: "2026-07-01"
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source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
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retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
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confidence: "reported"
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tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
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---
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# Delaware HB 417 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 10, 13, 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ENFORCEMENT OF FAMILY COURT CUSTODY ORDERS.
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In cases where the Family Court finds that there are sufficient grounds to order the removal of a child from their home and the Family Court orders custody of the child to the Division of Family Service (DFS), DFS often partners with law enforcement to enforce the order. There have been rare cases where a parent or legal guardian refuses to respond to DFS and law enforcement’s attempts to enforce the order to take custody of the child, resulting in uncertainty and a heightened concern for the child’s safety. Currently, it is unclear under the Delaware Code whether law enforcement is authorized to enter private property to enforce a Family Court custody order, even after all other avenues and strategies have been exhausted by DFS and law enforcement.
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## Version chain
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The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
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1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=109486&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB417)
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## Votes
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- SM — **37–0** (pass) · lower
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- SM — **20–1** (pass) · upper
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## Sponsors
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- Krista Griffith — primary (person)
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- Kyle Evans Gay — primary (person)
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- Bruce C. Ennis — cosponsor (person)
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- Debra Heffernan — cosponsor (person)
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- Kimberly Williams — cosponsor (person)
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- Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
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- Stephen Smyk — cosponsor (person)
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- Valerie Longhurst — cosponsor (person)
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## Timeline
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The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.
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- **2022-05-10** Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2022-05-17** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 4 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
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- **2022-06-07** Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 4 ABSENT `passage`
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- **2022-06-07** Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
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- **2022-06-22** Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
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- **2022-06-29** Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 NO `passage`
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- **2022-10-14** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
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## Source
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OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2e20d00b-4828-4192-9a07-c59d97bf5621`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).
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